It is perhaps not a part of the world that is renowned for its women's rights.

Many western preconceptions of Middle Eastern culture envisage veiled women lacking the same employment and legal rights as their male peers.

But a new exhibition of poignant photographs on display at a U.S gallery aims to challenge the traditional view that women from that part of the world are 'repressed and powerless'.

Different: Moroccan-born Lalla Assia Essaydi's work attempts to subvert traditional feminine concepts such as the harem and the veil

Striking: This picture by Rania Matar aims to subvert traditional Western preconceptions about what femininity means to Middle Eastern women

Poignant: Another picture taken by Lebanese born Rania Matar in 2010 shows a young girl looking out of her window in Beirut

War-torn: This unusual image, taken by Rula Halawani in 2002, features a woman stood in a house destroyed by war

Instead, the She Who Tells A Story exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Art, which opened on Tuesday, aims to show what life in the Middle East is like from behind the veil.

The powerful selection of pictures explores themes such as gender identity, war and peace, society and politics and features the work of a dozen prominent female photographers from Iran and the Middle East.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Images range from photojournalism to staged and manipulated visions of various aspects of everyday life.

The exhibition is the first to display the work of female photographers from the Middle East and Iran in the U.S.

Subversive: One of Iranian artist Gohar Dashti's stunning pictures that will be on show at the Boston museum until January next year

Stunning: Newsha Tavakolian, from Iran, took this work entitled Dont Forget This Is Not You (for Sahar Lotfi) in 2010

Powerful: Some of the pictures reflect war and peace through the eyes of the artist - this picture by Iranian born Gohar Dashti shows a woman hooking towels on barbed wire

Hidden message: Artist Shirin Neshat often covers her models with a form of text that is a mix of calligraphy and henna tattoos

Exhibition curator Kristen Gresh began exploring the photography of Middle Eastern women while living in Egypt in 2008.

She said: 'This exhibition is an opportunity to discover very poignant and powerful art work coming from the Middle East today which touches on issues of social and political issues but directly from the point of view of the artist and not from the point of view of the media.'

Iranian artist Shirin Neshat's work challenges differing perceptions of religious customs by the western world and the Middle East.

Challenging: The Mother, Daughter, Doll series by Yemeni photographer Boushra Almutawake is part of the She Who tells a Story exhibition at the Boston Museum of Fine Art

Colourful: The Break by Nermine Hammam shows two militia eating against a beautiful backdrop

Cultures collide: Women of Gaza 2 by Tanya Habjouqa shows three women adjusting their veils in a downtrodden sports hall

War and peace: Dreamland I by Nermine Hammam juxtaposes a soldier armed with an automatic weapon with a picturesque scene of a sailing boat

For example, one of her pictures juxtaposes a westerner's distaste at the idea of a veiled woman with a fundamentalists' disgust at the idea of being exposed.

Morrocan photographer Lalla Essaydi's work attempts to subvert traditional Middle Eastern gender symbols such as the veil and the harem.

She often covers her models with a form of script that combines calligraphy and the traditional feminine ritual of henna tattoos.

Family day out: This picture by Tanya Habjouqa shows a young family sat behind their car on the beach

New territory: I am Eve by Newsha Tavakolian is one of the photographs on show at the exhibition which is the first of its kind in the U.S

Contrast: These two very different pictures by Shadi Ghadirian were taken ten years apart